Have you ever wondered if you have an Irish Saint in your family tree? Here is one Irish family that had both a Saint AND a Martyr in their family tree – and I know that many of our readers are descended from this one Irish family.

From County Roscommon to Prince Edward Island

A new take on our traditional Irish Homelands feature. We start by looking at the Irish ancestral county of origin for one of our members and then travel overseas to the place where they immigrated. We start by linking County Roscommon with Prince Edward Island in the maritime region of Canada.

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The Irish Bard of the Hooley

Over the past weeks on this Letter, I’ve mentioned specific family surnames that were associated with old Celtic professions. Among the names mentioned we had “Ward” and “Shields”, both old Irish Bardic surnames in days gone by. These Bards underwent seven years of intensive training – and were in great demand from the Irish Chieftains…

An Irish Boat to New Brunswick.

A few weeks back, we chatted about the various “Irish Ancestry Trails” around the world – I asked readers to share their own “trail”. We received some great stories of whole families leaving Ireland during difficult times – and how their descendants spread to the many parts of the world we find them today. Richard…

Irish Surnames That Say Where You Came From

Earlier this week I saw the best TV episode of “Who do you think you Are” that I have seen so far. It featured the singer “Boy George” (full name George O’Dowd – son of Jeremiah O’Dowd and Dinah Glynn) as he explored the Irish roots of his mother and grandmother. It was shocking, sad, entertaining…